WordPerfect for DOS on the Mac: WPDOSBox under macOS

Read this first: This page describes a way to
run WPDOS on a Mac with the help of the “DOS emulator” software DOSBox.
An alternative new and probably superior method, using the vDos emulator, is
described on another page, which also lists the
relative advantages and disadvantages of the two methods.

WordPerfect for DOS can run in macOS through the use of the macOS version of
the DOSBox emulator, in a
system created by this site. This system makes it possible to use WPDOS 5.1 or 6.1 or
6.2, with an option to use Shell 3.1 or 4.0c to launch multiple WordPerfect
Corp. programs and many other DOS applications. As described below, you will need a copy of the WP program files from your existing DOS or Windows computer before you
can use this Mac-based system.

The system runs under macOS
10.12 Sierra and
later versions. If you need a version that runs under older OS X
versions, please send me feedback and be prepared to make a
substantial contribution to this site. (Note:
Under macOS 10.13 High Sierra and later versions, this system uses a 64-bit
version of DOSBox; 64-bit software will be required in future versions of
macOS.)

1. On your old Windows or DOS computer, make a copy of your complete WordPerfect program folder (typically WP51 or WP62 or WP61 or COREL; if you use WPDOS 6.x, you should also find the separate folder with printer files and writing tools, typically WPC62DOS or WPC61DOS (or it may already be included in the COREL folder). You will need your own copies of the WPDOS program files, so find these folders before you do anything. Copy the folders to a USB drive or mail them to yourself, and have them available to you on your
macOS computer.

2.Download the
WPDOSBox
Installer.dmg and double-click it to mount the disk image.Read the WPDOSBox ReadMe
First PDF file and follow the instructions in detail. In the window that displays the contents of the
installer disk image, double-click the Install DOSDisk
application to copy the DOSDisk folder to your macOS home
directory, typically the directory with your own name. The DOSDisk
folder contains the C:\ drive used by DOSBox. The Install DOSDisk application will prompt you for the location of the WP program files that you copied in step 1.

Note: If the Install DOSDisk application prompts you to follow the instructions because it does not recognize your language version of WPDOS, see the special instructions below.

3. In the same installer disk image window, drag a copy of the WPDOSBox51
application (if you use WPDOS 5.1) or the WPDOSBox62
application (if you use WPDOS 6.1 or 6.2), or both,
to the alias for your Applications folder that you will see in the same window.
You may also drag the applications to any folder your macOS hard disk; it can be
on your desktop or in your Applications folder or anywhere else you prefer. You
may now close this window and eject the disk image. (If you use WPDOS 6.1, all the relevant files will be in a folder named DOSDisk/WP62; do not change that name, no matter how tempting it is to do so!)

4. Find the copy of WPDOSBox51 or
WPDOSBox62 application that you dragged to your macOS disk.
Double-click on the application to launch WordPerfect in a window on your macOS
desktop.

The first time you run the application, it creates a shortcut on your desktop
named WPDocs. This is a shortcut to the folder
DOSDisk/WPDocs. If you want to edit an existing WPDOS file, copy it
into this folder; launch WPDOSBox51 or WPDOSBox62,
and open the file in WPDOS from the C:\WPDOCS folder (which is the same folder
as DOSDisk/WPDocs, but with a DOS-style directory name). You
may delete or move the shortcut if you don’t want it on the desktop.

Note: The first time you
switch from text mode into graphic mode (for example, for print preview, or for
one of the graphic editing modes in WPDOS 6.x, the screen may take a very long
time to be fully drawn; it should be much faster in any subsequent use of graphic
mode during the same session.

If the installer tells you to follow instructions because it cannot recognize which language version of WPDOS 6.x that you use, read this paragraph. In your old WP62 or WP61 folder, find the files WP.COM, WP. EXE, WP.FIL and the file with the name WP_WP_XX.TRS (where XX is your country code). Copy them into the DOSDisk/WP62 folder. Then, from both your old WP62 folder and your old WPC62DOS or WPC61DOS folder, find all the files that have names in the format
WP_WP_XX.* and WP_FI_XX.* and any
other files with the specification WPXX.* and WP_??_XX.*
(where XX is your country code),
copy all those files into
the WP62 folder in the
DOSDisk folder.
Make sure to copy all files that match these file specifications: *.LEX, *.THS,
*.DTL, *.ICR,
and *.SUP. Do not copy any other files!
Absolutely do not copy any file with the filename extension.SET. If, when you launch WPDOS, you see an error message telling you a file is
missing or incorrect, then copy that file also (and please
tell me about it).

Note: This procedure whould work with
WPDOS 6.1, and it may even work with WPDOS 6.0c, but I have not tested it. You may need to copy additional files from
your old, existing WP61 or WP60 folder into the DOSBoxWPMac system's WP62
folder. However, do not change the name of the WP62 folder even if you use WPDOS
6.1 or WPDOS 6.0c!

When you launch the WPDOSBox51 or WPDOSBox62
application, WordPerfect opens in a window on the macOS desktop. You may use Cmd-Enter to
toggle between windowed and full-screen mode. When WPDOS is in full-screen mode,
you cannot access other macOS applications or the desktop until you press
Cmd-Enter again to return to windowed mode, or until you exit WPDOS. While WPDOS
is in windowed mode, some function-key combinations do not work as they normally
do. For example, Ctrl-F1 will not Go to DOS when WPDOS is in windowed mode; use
Ctrl-Shift-F1 instead. However, Ctrl-F1 (and all other function-key
combinations) should work normally in full-screen mode.

When you exit WPDOS, a DOS screen may remain open in the same window; if the
DOS screen is open, enter the command exit to
close it. (See a separate section of this page for
instructions on controlling whether or not DOSBox remains open after you close
WPDOS.)

Something to be aware of: If you have not already changed the keyboard settings in
macOS's System
Preferences so that the F1 through F12 keys are used as “standard function keys”
(and not, as they are by default, keys that perform the functions engraved on
the keys, such as mute or volume up, etc.) then the WPDOSBox applications will
automatically change your keyboard settings so that F1 through F12 keys function
as ordinary function keys while the WPDOSBox application is running.
That means (for example) that you will not need to press Fn and F7 to
exit WordPerfect, only the F7 key as you normally do in WPDOS. The first time
the application runs, it may prompt you to agree to make a change in OS X that
allows this function to work correctly. If you do not want the
application to interfere with your keyboard settings, then you should open the
application in the Script Editor or Applescript Editor application in OS X and
find the lines near the top that explain the “fixFnKeys” option, and follow the
instructions that you find there.

You may drop a folder (or a file) on to the application, and WPDOS will open
with the dropped folder (or the folder that contains the dropped file)
as the default directory in WPDOS. The folder will be visible under DOSBox as
drive Y:, and its files will be listed (in
DOS 8.3 filename form) when you press F5 in WPDOS. If you dropped a file,
the file itself will not open in WPDOS, but you can select it by pressing
F5 and finding it in the file list.

You may access any folder on your macOS system from inside WPDOS by running
the NEWDRIVE macro. You will be prompted to
enter the full unix-style path of your macOS folder, and you will then see a
message that tells you which drive letter in DOSBox corresponds to the folder
you selected. A unix-style path means that if you want (for example) to access
your Documents folder, you should enter ~/Documents
or /users/Roscoe/Documents (assuming that you
name is Roscoe; replace it with you actual username because “Roscoe” will
definitely not work unless your name really is Roscoe). This
drive letter assignment will last only until you exit DOSBox. See the
advanced techniques below for instructions that will
let you permanently assign drive letters in DOSBox to folders on your macOS
system.

If you have installed the program files for both WPDOS 5.1 and 6.2, and you
normally use only one of them, but sometimes use the other, then consider this
technique: For example, if you mostly use WPDOS 5.1, then keep only one copy of
the WPDOSBox application (named, for example, WPDOSBox51). When you want to use
WPDOS 6.2, hold down the Shift key when launching the application, and it will
start up in WPDOS 6.2. The same method applies in reverse if you normally use
WPDOS 6.2 and have an application named WPDOSBox62; hold down the Shift key when
launching the application in order to run WPDOS 5.1.

You may modify some default settings by holding down the Option key when
starting the application. Follow the menus for details.

For the best possible display: This system starts
up with a 43-line screen, using the
same screen font that normally displays on a 25-line display. If you prefer the
normal 25-line display, add the letters “VGA” to the name of the application (as
in WPDOS51-VGA), or change the default setting by holding down
the Option key while starting the application and following the prompts.

Alternate methods of increasing screen size. These methods probably
aren't necessary, but you may want to experiment with them:

For text mode: In WPDOS 5.1, use
Shift-F1, 2-Display, 3-Text screen type, and select “Paradise VGA Plus”, then
“132x43 16 Color”. Or, in WPDOS 6.x, use Shift-F1, 2-Display,
2-Text Mode Screen Type/Colors, 1-Screen Type, and select “Paradise VGA Plus”,
then “Paradise 132x43 16 Color”. After selecting this text mode, press F7 until
you return to the editing screen. You should see a large, legible display of 43
lines of text.

To print from WPDOS, first make sure that your
default macOS printer is the printer that you want to print to. (You can check
the name of the default printer by runnng the WHICHPTR macro in WPDOS.) To
change the macOS default printer, use the macOS System Preferences application.
(You may need to press Cmd-Enter to exit full-screen mode) Then, from inside
WPDOS, simply print normally. Do not change the WPDOS default printer and do
not
change the printer port setting in WPDOS. Also: do not change the name of the
printer driver (if you do, the PDFMAKER macro described below will not work).

Note for advanced users: If you really know what you're
doing, and you have an excellent reason for doing it, you can also print
directly to a PCL printer. (If you don't understand the preceding sentence, then
simply ignore this
note.) You will only want to do this if (1) you have existing files
that require PCL-only fonts or PCL-only features and (2) you are
absolutely, positively certain that you actually have a PCL printer. If both
these conditions are true, then see the further
explanation below.

Nomenclature note: The name of the printer driver includes the name
“Ghostscript”, although this macOS-based system does not actually use Ghostscript
for printing; it uses the macOS printing system. The driver includes the name
“Ghostscript” because this system shares files and settings with Windows-based
WPDOS systems that do use Ghostscript, and many features would need to be
rewritten if the name were changed. Do not change the name of the printer
driver, no matter how tempted you may be to do so!

Troubleshooting:
If nothing happens when you attempt to print from WordPerfect, go to your
user folder (typically this folder has the same name as your own name), then the
Library folder within your user folder, then to the Preferences folder, and
delete the file com.apple.FolderActionsSetup.plist. Restart your computer
(though it may be enough simply to log out and in again).

To create a PDF file from WPDOS, use the
PDFMAKER macro. This creates a PDF file in the DOSDisk/PDF
folder (this folder will be created if it does not exist). If the
original document has a filename, then the name of the PDF file will begin with
the original filename; otherwise an arbitrary name will be used. If you create
multiple PDFs from the same document, the filenames will include sequential
numbering.

Troubleshooting:
If nothing happens when you attempt to create a PDF file from WordPerfect,
go to your user folder (typically this folder has the same name as your own
name), then the Library folder within your user folder, then to the Preferences
folder, and delete the file com.apple.FolderActionsSetup.plist. Restart your
computer (although it may be enough simply to log out and in again).
Under OS X 10.8 or later, you can find your Library folder by clicking on the
Finder, holding down the Option key while clicking Go on the top-line menu, and
then clicking Library. (Under OS X 10.8 or later, “Library” will only appear on
the Go menu while you press the Option key.)

If you want to restrict the mouse pointer to the WPDOS window,
press Cmd-F10 while the mouse is in the WPDOS window. Press Cmd-F10 again to release
the mouse from the WPDOS window.

Ctrl-click on any WP file and open it in WPDOS:
Instructions for creating an Automator action that will let you Ctrl-click on
any WP file, anywhere on your disk, and open in WPDOS may be found in
this post on the
WPUniverse site. If you use the WPDOSBox system, and
make a contribution to this site, I will be
encouraged to create a program that will create and install this Automator
action for you.

Keyboard equivalents:
Macintosh laptops and many recent Mac keyboards lack a keypad with Home and End
keys. To use these and other non-Mac keys in WPDOS, use these equivalents:

Copy and Paste macros. You can exchange text
between macOS and WordPerfect. Use the MACCOPY macro to copy the selected block in
WPDOS to the macOS clipboard. Use the MACPASTE macro to copy the contents of the
macOS clipboard to WPDOS. These macros require WPDOS 6.x or WPDOS 5.1 Plus; they will not work with any version of WPDOS 5.1 with a date earlier than 1994.

Convert WP documents to Word format.If you the
WPLO Converter installed on your macOS
system, you can use the HOSTCONV macro to
convert the current document to Word format. The converted file (and a copy of
the original) will appear in a temporary folder, from which you can copy it
anywhere on your system.

File-transfer troubleshooting. If DOSBox is running
when you copy a file into the WPDOCS folder (or any other folder in the DOSDisk
folder), WordPerfect will not display the file in its List Files screen, because
the DOSBox file system is not aware that the file has been written to disk. Run
the REFRESH macro to force DOSBox to refresh its directory listings so that
WordPerfect can find and open the newly-copied file. If REFRESH does not produce
the results you want, close WordPerfect and DOSBox and then restart DOSBox.

Run an macOS terminal command from WPDOS. Use either
of the two methods described below:

(1) In WPDOS (6.x or 5.1),
running in either of these DOSBox-based systems, run the macro
HOSTCMD. You will be prompted for a command
to run in the host macOS system. For example, you might run “open
/Applications/Firefox.app” (no quotation marks). If text is blocked
(selected) in the current WPDOS document when you run the macro, then the
blocked text will be used as a command-line parameter sent to the host system
with the command that you entered when prompted.

(2) A second macro,
HOSTRUN, does NOT prompt you to enter a
command, but instead runs a command that has been written into the macro as a
variable. As supplied, the macro uses the macOS Calculator, but of course you can
edit the macros to run any other application. Again, if text is blocked
(selected) in WPDOS, that text will be used as a command-line parameter added to
the command already in the variable.

Some serious warnings: You may change the name
of the WPDOSBox51 or WPDOSBox62 application, but if you want to run WPDOS 5.1, make certain that the
number “5” remains in the name of the application (for example, “WordPerfect for
DOS 5.1”). If you want to run WPDOS 6.x, make certain the number “6” remains in
the in name of the application (for example, “WPDOS 6”). If you change the name
of the application so that it has neither “5” nor “6” in it, it will open a DOS
session, which may be useful if you want to make any changes to your DOSBox
setup.

How to launch the WordPerfect Office Shell: If you want to run the WordPerfect Shell, then
change the name of the application so that the name includes the string
“Shell3” (if you want to use Shell 3.1) or “Shell4” (if you want to run Shell
4.0). Possible names include “WPShell31” or “DOSBox Shell4.0” or any other name
that includes the correct string. Do not include a space in the required string,
and make certain that the numbers “5” and “6” are not in the application's name.
See the separate section below for basic advice on setting
up the WordPerfect Office Shell.

Many further instructions may be found on the Read Me First file on the
installer disk image.

DOSBox keyboard shortcuts: This system uses different keyboard
shortcuts than the DOSBox default shortcuts in order to avoid conflicts with WPDOS
keyboard features. The keyboard features that you ought to know are these:

Cmd-Return or Cmd-F: toggle between windowed and full-screen mode (some
WPDOS function key combinations, including Ctrl-F1, are usable only in
full-screen mode).

Cmd-F3: Redraws the screen in case some parts of the DOSBox window
display incorrectly.

Cmd-F6: Redraws the screen (as Cmd-F3 does) and also resets the shift
state of the keyboard in case DOSBox mistakenly thinks that CapsLock is
switched on.

Cmd-F7 and Cmd-F8: increase or decrease the DOSBox “frameskip” rate,
which can improve performance in graphic mode. Press Cmd-F8 to increase the
number of graphic “frames” that DOSBox does not display before
redrawing the screen; press Cmd-F7 to decrease the number. The default
number is zero; the highest number is 10.

Cmd-F11 and Cmd-F12: decrease or increase DOSBox's speed by decreasing or
increasing the number of your computer's “cycles” that DOSBox uses. If you
increase this number beyond the maximum usable number for your computer,
DOSBox will slow down, not speed up. Please feel free to experiment,

Add macOS folders to your DOSBox setup: You can access any folder on
your macOS disk as a drive letter in DOSBox. Here are two methods of adding drive
letters visible to WPDOS that correspond to folders on your macOS system.

(a) With the WPDOSBox application closed
and not running, Ctrl-click on the WPDOSBox## application itself and choose
“Show package contents” from the contextual menu. In the Finder window that
opens, navigate to contents, then resources, then files, and open one of the
.prof files in an editor such as TextEdit. For example, if you use WPDOS 5.1, open WPDOS51.prof; if you use WPDOS 6.2, open WPDOS62.prof; the filenames should be self-explanatory.

... or (b) While WPDOS is running, press Ctrl-F1 (if WPDOS is in a
window, not full-screen, use Ctrl-Shift-F1), Go to DOS, and enter the command:
ed c:\setdrive.bat

Then, having done either (a) or (b), notice the lines in
the file that you opened that read something like this; the exact lines will be
different depending on whether you used (a) or (b):

mount -t floppy C ~/DOSdisk
# mount -t floppy D ~/Documents

To use your Documents folder as drive D: in DOSBox, remove the “#” mark from
the start of the second of these lines and save the file. In a similar way, you can use any letter
from D through Y as the equivalent of any folder on your macOS disk, but you must
know how to designate that folder in Unix style, as in the example of
mount -t floppy D ~/Documents shown above. If the folder that you want to access
has a space in its name, enclose the full path in quotation marks, like this:
mount -t floppy p "~/WordPerfect Documents" (of course, the folder “WordPerfect Documents”
must actually exist in your user folder for this command to have any effect).

If you started with method (a), close the file and start the
WPDOSBox application. If you started with method (b), then press F7,
save the file, type Exit to return to WordPerfect;
exit WordPerfect; and start the application again. In either case, when WPDOS is
running, press Ctrl-F1, Go to DOS, and enter the command
mount to see your drive-letter assignments. If they are not what you wanted, edit the file with the assignments and try again.

Exit from WPDOS to a DOS prompt in DOSBox
instead of shutting down DOSBox immediately:
By default, the DOSBox application shuts down immediately after you exit
WordPerfect. If you want it to remain open so that you can use the DOS prompt in
DOSBox, then hold down the Option key when launching the WPDOSBox application
and select the option that lets you exit WPDOS to the DOS prompt instead of
shutting down DOSBox entirely. If you choose this option, you can shut down
DOSBox from the DOS prompt by typing the DOS command
exit. The option setting menu is self-explanatory.

Switching between text and graphic modes in WPDOS 6.x.
When you switch between text and graphic modes in WPDOS 6.x, DOSBox may repeat
the last keystroke that you typed before switching modes. So, if you use
Ctrl-F3, G, to switch to graphic mode, the letter “g” may be typed repeatedly in
the editing screen. If this occurs, you can avoide this problem by using one of the supplied macros to
switch modes. Use GRAFMODE to switch to graphics mode, TEXTMODE to switch to
text mode, and PAGEMODE to switch to page mode.

Add startup switches (command-line parameters) to WPDOS:Warning: this is for experts only! You may change, remove, or add the
startup switches used by default in this system. With the WPDOSBox application
closed and not running, Ctrl-click on the WPDOSBox## application itself and
choose “Show package contents” from the contextual menu. In the Finder window
that opens, navigate to contents, then
resources, then
files, and open one of the .prof files
in an editor such as TextEdit. For example, if you use WPDOS 5.1, open
WPDOS51.prof; if you use WPDOS 6.2, open
WPDOS62.prof; the filenames should be
self-explanatory. Find the line that already includes startup switches (I assume
that you know what you're doing, and that you can find it yourself), and modify
the line. Some switches may cause DOSBox to lock up or cause other problems, so
be prepared to undo whatever you do. Also, do not change
the name of any macro that may already be specified on the line! If you are
foolish enough to change it, do not ask me
for help in undoing the damage! I really mean this! Don't do it!

Use NoBlink Accelerator for a non-blinking block cursor:This system supports
NoBlink Accelerator;
the required files are in the C:\UTIL
directory in the DOSBox virtual disk. NoBlink will work in this system's 43-line
VGA and mono modes, and possibly in some other modes.

Run WPDOS in monochrome mode: You may prefer to run WPDOS in
monochrome mode, as on an ancient IBM PC. If so, with the WPDOSBox application
closed and not running, Ctrl-click on the WPDOSBox## application itself and
choose “Show package contents” from the contextual menu. In the Finder window
that opens, navigate to contents, then resources, then files, and use TextEdit to open
and edit the .prof file that you use for your version of WordPerfect. For example, if you use WPDOS 5.1, open WPDOS51.prof;
if you use WPDOS 6.2, open WPDOS62.prof; the filenames
should be self-explanatory. Near the foot of the file, notice the line that reads:

# mode mono

Remove the “#” mark from the start of the line and save the file. Note that
monochrome mode, in real DOS, forces the screen size to 25 lines, but this
system uses a special 43-line monochrome mode.

Alternatively, you may simply rename the WPDOSBox62 or WPDOSBox51 program so that its
name includes the string “Mono”, for example “WPDOSBox62 Mono” or “WPDOSBox51
Mono”, and WPDOS will automatically open in monochrome mode.

Technical notes: This system automatically uses a “custom build” of DOSBox that has
better-looking screen fonts than the standard “build”; it can also display
WordPerfect's 512-character fonts correctly (in normal intensity, not in bold,
as in the standard build), and can display underlined text when the emulated DOS is
in DOSBox switched to monochrome mode. This custom build was made possible by
the generous help of the community at the
DOSBox
support forums, with essential contributions from TeaRex,
ripsaw8080, Dominus, h-a-l-9000, wd, HunterZ,
and ykhwong. I thank all of them for their time, patience, and
knowledge.

If you use WordPerfect in full-screen mode, and text or graphics appear
stretched or distorted, you will need to experiment to get better results.
Unfortunately, DOSBox interacts differently with different kinds of video
hardware, so no general guide is possible. The following guidelines should help
you get the results you want.

Find the WPDOSBox application, ctrl-click on it, and choose “Show package
contents” from the contextual menu. In the Finder window that opens, navigate to contents, then resources, then
files, and open the file sharedsettings.conf
in TextEdit or any other editor.

Near the top of the file, about a dozen lines below the heading
[sdl], find the line that begins fullresolution =
desktop and experiment with this setting; you might get better results
with 1024x768 or 1280x1024 or 0x0
(zero-x-zero) or “original” (but do not
use the quotation marks). Further down in the file, in the section headed
[render], you might exeriment by changing
apsect=false to aspect=true. You might also
find the line that begins windowresolution= and
change the setting to 0x0 (zero-x-zero). Save the
file and launch the application to see the effect of your changes. I
strongly recommend making only one change at a time and testing for its effect,
and absolutely will not provide any help if you attempt more than one change at
a time!

If you want WPDOS to start up in full-screen mode, then, in the section
headed [sdl] find the line that reads
fullscreen = false and change false to
true. Remember that you can still toggle between full-screen and windowed
mode by pressing Cmd-Enter.

If you normally print from WPDOS to an HP LaserJet, and if you use a
LaserJet (PCL) driver for your files, you may want to use the feature that uses
a PCL driver for formatting your file, but prints to any macOS printer. This
feature supports eighty fonts, far more than the thirty-five supported by the
default printing system.

To use this system, simply change the default printer driver in WPDOS to
“PCL Driver for WPDOSMac (wpdos.org)”, and print as you normally do from WPDOS.

To create a PDF file while using the PCL driver as your default driver, run
the PCLTOPDF macro. This creates a PDF file in the DOSDisk/PDF
folder (this folder will be created if it does not exist). If the
original document has a filename, then the name of the PDF file will begin with
the original filename; otherwise an arbitrary name will be used. If you create
multiple PDFs from the same document, the filenames will include sequential
numbering.

A note on Dark Courier: This system, like current LaserJet models,
includes two varieties of the Courier typeface, one called Courier, the other
called CourierPS. This system uses a custom build of GhostPCL that replaces the
normal Courier font with the equivalent of HP's “Dark Courier.” If you want to
use the darker Courier, use the Courier font; this is the equivalent of using
the “Dark Courier” option in recent LaserJets. If you want the normal Courier
used on modern LaserJets, use the CourierPS font.

Troubleshooting:
If nothing happens when you attempt to create a PDF file from WordPerfect,
go to your user folder (typically this folder has the same name as your own
name), then the Library folder within your user folder, then to the Preferences
folder, and delete the file com.apple.FolderActionsSetup.plist
,or, in recent macOS versions, com.apple.FolderActions.plist.Restart your
computer (although it may be enough simply to log out and in again).

This is really and truly for advanced users only! You will need to know what
you are doing, and you must be absolutely certain that your default
macOS printer is a PCL printer. Remember that many high-end
printers are PostScript and PCL printers, and you should only attempt
this procedure if you are really and truly certain that your printer supports
PCL5, PCL5e, or PCL5c, and that you need to use your printer's PCL fonts or
features.

First, install a PCL driver for your printer into your WordPerfect setup. You
can find PCL drivers elsewhere on this site for
WPDOS 5.1 and
WPDOS 6.x. While WPDOSBox is
not running, copy the .ALL file into the appropriate folder in your
~/DOSDisk folder, and then start WPDOSBox and install your printer in
exactly the way you would have done under DOS or Windows.

Next, after you have installed your printer, you absolutely must change the
printer port setting from the defaut LPT1 setting to the file
C:\PRINTOUT\OUTPUT.PCL. If you do not know how to do this, perhaps you shouldn't
be attempting it at all, but you can find advice in your WP manual, or elsewhere
on this site, or by asking in the WPDOS forum at WPUniverse.com.

Remember that your default macOS printer absolutely must be compatible
with PCL5, PCL5e, or PCL5c, or you will waste an enormous amount of paper when
you try to print!

You may now select your PCL printer in WPDOS and print to it.

Important warnings: Do not delete or change the name of the
existing “Ghostscript” printer driver that was supplied with this system!
Don't even think about doing so! If you do, you won't be able to create
PDF files, and you won't be able to print to non-PCL printers. I mean it!

If you use TrueType for WordPerfect: You may install TrueType for
WordPerfect on this system, but remember that you absolutely must
print to a PCL printer if you use TTWP. Also you must
make at least two changes before you can print. First, go from WP to DOS, and
edit the TTWP.CFG file in your WP51
folder; change the line that reads:

Port1=LPT1

so that it reads:

Port1=LPT1,C:\PRINTOUT\OUTPUT.PCL

Save the file.

Next, see the section above on adding folders to your
DOSBox system; I strongly recommend that you use the method in which you
edit the file c:\setdrive.bat. Add this line
anywhere in the file:

loadfix -14

Save the file and restart the DOSBox system. You may need to experiment with
the number after the hyphen; a higher number may be necessary for printing, or
you may be successful with a number as low as 1.

If you want to use the
utility programs supplied with WordPerfect Office for DOS (Calculator,
Calendar, NoteBook, etc.), you will need to add them to this system by yourself
and perform additional setup by yourself. Start by creating a folder in the
DOSDisk folder, with a name such as WPOffice
(eight characters maximum!). Inside the DOSBox system, this folder be accessible
as C:\WPOFFICE. Copy the WordPerfect Office
programs that you want to use, and any related files, into this folder. Start
the Shell program; choose Setup from the menu; then edit the Shell menu in the
same way you edited it when you set up the Shell on earlier systems.
Remember that when editing the Shell menu, the folder that you created will have
a name likeC:\WPOFFICE, and
not ~/DOSDisk/WPOffice.